Orpheus and Eurydice: Notes Towards a New Epic

“He’ll write you a poem when the power’s out.”
– Anais Mitchell’s Hadestown

Orpheus, no longer a poet and musician,
has a very popular twitter feed
where he quotes Kurt Vonnegut and
David Suzuki and tweets “I feel just like
Nick Cage’s hair in Raising Arizona”;

Hades no longer rules the underworld,
but owns a high-tech start-up called Underworld,
recently valued at a hundred billion;

Eurydice is no longer Orpheus’ lover and muse,
no longer Hades’ coveted, but the mistress
of a much-linked-to blog
all about yoga, food, and fun! –

the drama is taken from the cold banks
of the river Styx and re-situated
in the former orange groves of Silicon Valley.

It’s no longer about love, but bandwidth,
no longer braving the unknown
but unique monthly visitors.

Of course, Orpheus still fails,
still dies alone, but, the stakes so lowered,
no one really seems to care.

Aaron Kreutercurrently writes and lives in Toronto. He has had his work published in numerous journals and magazines, including Vallum, Hart House Review, FreeFall Magazine, Black Heart Magazine, and The Toronto Quarterly. His poem "Math Poem" appeared in carte blanche 10.